“There’s a book written for every one of us…”
72 year old Carl delivers books to the customers of City Gate Bookstore. He has always made these deliveries alone.
Every night he goes door-to-door delivering books by hand to his loyal customers. He knows their every desire and preference, carefully selecting the perfect story for each person.
One evening as he makes his rounds, nine-year-old Schascha appears. Loud and precocious, she insists on accompanying him – and even tries to teach him a thing or two about books.
When Carl’s job at the bookstore is threatened, will the old man and the girl in the yellow raincoat be able to restore Carl’s way of life, and return the joy of reading to his little European town?
The Door-to-Door Bookstore is a heart-warming tale of the value of friendship, the magic of reading, and the power of books to unite us all. Carl Kollhoff represents a down to earth, real life guardian of books in The Door-to-Door Bookstore. Every evening he takes selected books to regular customers of the City Gate Bookshop where he works. These aren’t always directly chosen by the recipients, but often by Carl who senses what they would enjoy. He sees their doorsteps, and sometimes has pleasurable exchanges with them when he is on his round. Returning home each evening to his cosy apartment, Carl is greeted with walls lined by books.
One evening a young girl steps out into the street and starts to accompany Carl. Whilst he isn’t entirely welcoming, Schascha (not her real name as it’s later revealed) won’t be dissuaded. Over time she not only makes her presence on the rounds known, but also persuades Carl to choose books that his customers need rather than picking from their normal genres. She encourages Carl to form closer friendships with his customers too, and together they create a community that starts with books and explores friendships, relationships and human nature with both its beauty and its weakness.
The language of the book will draw the reader in and the characterisation was both consistent and (mostly) believable. From domestic violence to isolation, author Carsten Henn doesn’t shy away from exploring not only the differences that divide people, but also traits of kindness and compassion that draw a community back together again.
‘The Door to Door Bookstore’ is the perfect novel for book lovers as it is a story about books, a bookstore and a character who personally delivers books to customers, every bookworm believes that there is a book for everyone and that books pick the reader and this is perfectly portrayed in the story. Reading this book will make you fall in love with books and reading all over again, as well as the magic of bookstores.
One of the aspects that would strike a chord with readers is that this book doesn’t contain one story, it contains multiple. Carl deliveries stories to his customers but at the same time each of the customers has their own story. It is interesting to follow Carl and Schascha as they deliver books and learn more about the customers, the kind of books they liked to read but also to learn a little bit more about them. Carl learns that his job may be taken away from him despite the fact that he gives a good service and is generating business and income for the bookstore. But the new owner doesn’t see it as a feasible role. When Carl’s job is threatened, the other staff rally round to try and explain to the owner why the decision was wrong. The readers soon discover that Carl is alone. He doesn’t seem to have any family so books, the bookstore and his customers are his family. Without them he would be lonely. In some ways his customers have become his family as he sees them regularly but at the same time he knows them so well that he sometimes picks books for them that he knows they will like.
‘The Door to Door Bookstore’ is the perfect feel good novel, it’s a story about kindness, human relationship and most importantly the undervalued worth of books and bookstore. We have given the book 9.5 out of 10.
Carsten Henn has worked as a radio presenter, wine and restaurant critic, and has published a number of successful novels. He lives in Germany.
